Contest: The Color of …
Black Friday isn’t here yet, but with the season of giving almost upon us, we thought it was time to give a little something back to our readers. So we will be giving away five sets of Kim Dong Hwa’s The Color of … trilogy to five lucky commenters.
The trilogy, which comprises The Color of Earth, The Color of Water, and The Color of Heaven, follows a young girl’s coming of age from the brink of puberty to the realization of true love. Set in traditional Korean culture, the story interweaves the lives of Ehwa, a young girl, and her single mother, who keeps an inn in their small village. Hwa’s expressive art and poetic imagery lift this series to the realm of literature, yet it is surprisingly readable; although it is marketed toward teens, it has a lot of appeal for adults as well. We discusssed the first volume in a roundtable last May, and Greg McElhatton reviewed it here.
To enter, either submit a comment to this post or send an e-mail to wordballoons@gmail.com telling us your favorite children’s or teens’ graphic novel of the year. (We have an ulterior motive—this will help us kick-start our year-end coverage.) The contest ends at midnight EST on December 1. On December 2, we will pick five winners in a random drawing and post their names or nicknames on the blog. Due to postage and customs hassles, this contest is open to U.S. residents only.
Thanks to First Second Books for providing the books for this giveaway.
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About Brigid Alverson
Brigid Alverson, the editor of the Good Comics for Kids blog, has been reading comics since she was 4. She has an MFA in printmaking and has worked as a book editor and a newspaper reporter; now she is assistant to the mayor of Melrose, Massachusetts. In addition to editing GC4K, she writes about comics and graphic novels at MangaBlog, SLJTeen, Publishers Weekly Comics World, Comic Book Resources, MTV Geek, and Good E-Reader.com. Brigid is married to a physicist and has two daughters in college, which is why she writes so much. She was a judge for the 2012 Eisner Awards.
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My favorite graphic novel for children this year was “Adventures in Cartooning,” by James Sturn, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Fredrick-Frost. Fanciful, fun and functional!
At the moment, I would choose Magic Trixie and the Dragon as my favorite of the year, although there are probably some others worthy of mentioning, like Amulet volume 2 (which I still need to read).
I really enjoyed “The Eternal Smile” — the art is fun and it’s a surprisingly thought-provoking story about the dangers of living in fantasy worlds.
I got a gigantic kick out of The Secret Science Alliance by Eleanor Davis. The artwork is zippy and very fun to look at.
If manga is included in GN pick, then the new Yotsuba&! release from Yen Press. Otherwise, agreed Eternal Smile was really good.
Of course manga is included! If it’s comics, it’s in. And I’m with you on Yotsuba&!
It’s an ongoing series, but I think Hikaru no Go, already my favorite manga series for kids, really rose to a new level with this year’s releases, particularly volume fifteen, which forced Hikaru to finally start to grow up a little and gave us a glimpse of the man he’ll one day be.
I really liked March on Earth from CMX. It’s sweet and uplifting without turning into saccharine.
I’m a big manga nerd, and so there were a bunch of things released this year that I loved. But the first thing I thought of is Orange, by Benjamin. The art is just so beautiful and expressive (and I think many teens would identify with the story’s emotions).
I really loved the three volumes of Sand Chronicles that came out this year. The sensitivity of the characterization sets it apart from the rest of the shojo pack and reminds me of some of my favorite YA prose fiction.
My favorite YA graphic novel of the year is Lora Innes’s THE DREAMER. It’s great historical fiction with real teen appeal!
aabbott at blackstone.lioninc.org
I recently got my nephew the book Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss. The illustrations were wonderful and he had a fun time following Luke around the city.
Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone: The Odyssey of Flight 33 has been popular in the high school media center where I work.
I really enjoyed The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan.